I was just thinking about how most people been hearing America is the number 1 country in the world since they were born. I don't know who the media will blame, but some will start stroking fear.
The average person might not care in the beginning, but once media, and politician starts making people fear I feel people are going to start looking for a "strong man" to save them.
I think this sticking there heads in the sand is understandable given how I think American culture derives ‘american-ness.’ Anyone can become American which is pretty unusual if you think about it. It’s clearly not any ethnic group even if this comes up in domestic politics about if American is a code word for white republicans. You can have someone immigrate to America at age 65 and become an red blooded “American.” That’s unusual on the world stage.
My theory is on a meta-level American-ness is a submission to a state of political ideals more than ethnicity/family ties, culture or some other meta-construct you see often as methods of justifying nation states. When you look at how most nation states form it’s almost always surrounding ethnic groups. When you point out that that American political system is unable to cope with problems I think you are poking at a third rail because without the system of government/political ideals working you undermine the unity story and If the American system of government isn’t working what’s there to replace “American” as a unified identity. How do you recontextualize that identity when there are not any good alternatives out there right now to do so?